SuperSport coach Hunt gracious in defeat against Chippa

SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt was gracious in defeat following the 1-0 loss to Chippa United in a DStv Premiership match on Tuesday where his captain Thulani Hlatshwayo was sent off.

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Hlatshwayo was sent for an early shower six minutes into the second half for a second bookable offence.

Elmo Kambindu scored the winning goal for the Chilli Boys with five minutes left on the clock to condemn SuperSport to their second defeat of the season. 

“Obviously, it (red card) affects you, playing away from home. It’s harder because they are just throwing numbers forward and overload you in certain areas,” Hunt remarked after the game against Chippa at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

“But we tried to be positive, kept the shape positive and I thought we were the better side in the second half. We played better but we obviously didn’t create too many openings. We didn’t make the final pass count so I’m disappointed. 

“They were better than us tonight and that’s it. They were sharp all over, we have to give them credit for that. We have to try and pick ourselves up and move on again. Tonight was a big opportunity for us to try and get above two points a game but obviously you’re going to need much more. You’re going to need 2,5 points a game but right now we’ve played seven games so it’s still a long way to go. We’re better than what we showed.”

Matsatsantsa a Pitori will need to dust themselves off and quickly, they play Gaborone United in the Caf Confederation Cup on Friday at New Peter Mokaba Stadium.

SuperSport are in the pound seat by virtue of away goal’s rule after the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw. The winner of this two-legged second round preliminary game will qualify for the group stages of the competition.

“You can see mentality we’re very drained, what we’re going through is draining us and obviously we don’t train,” Hunt said about their hectic traveling schedule.

“We haven’t had any training sessions and we play on Friday again miles away (from Tshwane) and there’s no training again so you will pick up injuries and things like that which we got already and red cards. These things will happen, that’s football but we’re going to try and battle through it and see where we go.” 

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Chippa coach Morgan Mammila was understandably pleased with his side’s showing in front of their home fans.

“I’m happy with the result although I’m not that hundred percent happy,” he said.

“Because we can do better but this is work-in-progress. Three points and we go from position seven to four, so I’m very happy and we can build a strong team from here.

“It was our first win at home and don’t forget we had the biggest teams in the country here. We drew one and lost one but that’s football. The focus now is just to be consistent and my team is close to how I want them to play.”